Operation Surge
by b4tmans
Summary: ON HIATUS: We met by chance. A simple coincidence. But, if I hadn't met him, my friend's and family's and neighbor's chance of survival would have been lost to this apocalypictic world. Jorge/OC
1. Question of My Life

HALO: REACH.

OPERATION_/3212309

MISSION_START-

Reach: New Alexandria. 2552.

It has been a week since they had landed on our planet. The monsters had already begun to destroy our home world, killing neighbors and friends and family. It was now the 4 of us scouting, looking for food and shelter.

Burned buildings, papers fluttering through the air. It looked like a scene from one of those post-apocalyptic movies that James loved so much. Glancing back at my tall friend, his face was a mixed twist of disgust and terror.

James Shurziy was a 24-year-old farmer's son who was costumed to hard work and family. But, when the monsters landed on our planet, they attacked his farm, his family. He had only stopped crying a few hours ago, so Surchme and I convinced him to help us search for necessities.

Surchme Ploe was a pretty young thing. About 21, she had just finished school and graduated from University of Clo with a degree in nursing. She was an outgoing girl, hot headed with a foul mouth. She reminded me of my mother. Especially when she was mad. But, she was one hell of a medic. Which came in handy when we first met our friend Clumsi.

Clumsi Pli, who claims her name is not pronounced 'clumsy', is a 14-year-old teenager with a major attitude. She likes to think that she can do anything by herself, but I guess that's how teenagers are. The calamity of a name she was bestowed is a very good descriptive of her, seeing that (with her sense of independence) she does tend to screw up.

My name is Romona Swiths. I am 30 years old and am in charge the rag-tag army of Reach's current survivors. Many people would call me a motherly figure, loving and caring, but able to discipline. Children tend to be left under my care, when their parents go out with the search parties, looking for other survivors. Good thing I decided to go today… If not, my friend's and family's and neighbor's chance of survival would have been lost.

Guns and other weapons were held in sweaty palms and shaking hands as we trekked through the mess of the city. Boots crunched as our feet collided with the ruble on the gray and colorless ground. Here and there the body of a farmer or an alien could be seen, and I tried to look away.

"This should be it." Surchme mumbled, cutting ahead of me, with an old, torn, paper map in her dainty gloved hands.

I looked up at the building. It was swaying slightly, the top floors looked as if they had received a lot of plasma damage… The burned sign above the door read "Generation Tech. Industries".

I raised an eyebrow.

"Why here?" I asked Surchme.

"We need a better map, this one doesn't have any of the new structures they've built in the last 10 years… Plus when the Covenant attacked, all of the holo-maps were updated with danger zones… Those could come in handy." She explained quietly as she walked up to the dirty glass of the front doors, cupping both hands near her eyes and peering in, "Let's try to be quick… this building looks like it could topple over any second."

"Let's do this." Clumsi grasped the handle on the door and pulled firmly. With a satisfying click, the doors opened to reveal the scene of a massacre.

The first thing that hit me was the odor. It reeked of a million rotting eggs crammed together in a warm, moist wet room. But, it wasn't eggs that were causing the smell…

On the once white marble floor, bloated bodies were strewn about, of aliens in armor and humans in business suits. Flies flew around the room as we moved.

"Oh my god…" Surchme muttered. Over in the corner, James retreated and proceeded to puke up his small breakfast.

"That's so gross…" Clumsi gagged on her own words and closed her eyes tight. Surchme swung her duffel bag over her shoulder, zipped it open and pulled out cotton masks.

"They aren't going to get rid of the smell completely but they should help." I grasped one and pulled it over my ponytail. The smell was already more tolerable. I nodded in thanks and made my way past the front desk, and off to the right, past the elevator. Checking for a staircase, I finally found one.

"James, Surchme, Clumsi… found a staircase." I called out. The three made their ways over, maneuvering around the bodies.

I tugged the door open and held it open for everyone as we piled into the tiny stairwell.

"Alright, I've only been here one other time, and if I remember correctly, the room we are looking for is on the 10th floor." Surchme explained on our way up.

Peering up nervously, James whispered, "I hope we don't run into any Covvies…"

"Now that would suck wouldn't it, Jimmy?" Clumsi snorted.

I led the group up, pistol ready and steady in my hands. Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm my nerves. '_Nothing is up here. They all left long ago.'_ Suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks.

"How long?" A strong voice asked.

"Question of my life… If the question is when will this station be back online…" the feminine voice paused, "Two weeks. Earliest."

The voices were faint… And with Clumsi and John talking to each other, they were hard to hear…

"Shut up." I whispered.

"What?"

"I said shut up." I whispered again, not caring who asked the question. Motioning for them to be quiet and stay put, I approached the door leading out of the stair well labeled 'FLOOR 7'.

"This is plasma damage… All major upping components are fried."

"Two _minutes_ is too long."

"Which is why I'm splicing into the main Gen. Tech Computer to get those maps."

I gently grasped the handle, and turned slowly. There was a click and I opened the door to come face to face with an armored giant pointing a gun straight at my forehead.

"Romona!" A voice called out behind the mass of a soldier.

"Sharra?" I peered to the side and saw the young woman, leaning against the wall.

"Burada ne yapıyorsun? (what are you doing here?) Mən sizə evakuasiya edilmiş fikir! (I thought you were evacuated!)" She yelped hopping up and running into my open arms.

"Same goes for you." I chuckled lightly. Behind me the light footsteps of John, Clumsi and Surchme could be heard.

"Where is Alec?" She smiled. A sudden pain wrenched my heart and I looked to the ground.

"Oh no…" He covered her mouth with both hands and tears began to well up in her eyes, "And… a-and Chen?" I nodded slowly.

"Those canavarlar! (monsters!)" She cried. I found it Ironic… It was my son and my husband who were dead. Shouldn't I be the one crying?

"Sorry to interrupt this… moment but, Sharra… Who are they?" Clumsi questioned, pointing to the group of 5 soldiers…

"Spartans…" Surchme muttered in awe.

The awe was understandable. Growing up we had heard about these super soldiers. How they were stronger than god himself, and could defend a whole colony by themselves. My dad used to tell me how a single SPARTAN could over turn one of the freight trains that I used to take to school. I never believed him…

That was until I realized how big they were.

"I am Carter 259. This is Noble Team."

I just got Goosebumps.

**A/N: alrigtehhhh. i really wanted to write a Halo: Reach fanfic... so here i go. if i don't get somethign right, like a service number of city name, please feel free to crrect me and i'll try to go back and fix it :) the language that Sharra starts to speak is i think Azerbaijani. not sure who speaks t, but it seemed foreign enough for Reach. haha, so anyway, characters are really yours to be. i wanted you guys to be creative and make the characters your own... so i left out eye color, height (except for James, i need him to be tall for something later), weight, hair color and all that other stuff. So ya. R&R. please?**


	2. The Morning After

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**A/N:**

**ok. so here's chapter two. umm, i found some songs that really are pretty cool to listen to while reading this chapter... the first one is Storm by Yoshida Brothers... i really like Racing Against The Sunset by Philip Wesley... and then Voxifera by Era was a cool one. :D so ya. there is no hungarian/reach language on this chapter... but a little fluff between Surchme and Emile... oh, and i think Emile is african american just for the record, no offense. he's just way to cool to be white lol. **

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HALO: REACH.

OPERATION_/3212309

MISSION_START- O3:47 hours.

Reach: New Alexandria. 2552.

It was now growing dark, and heavy footsteps behind us clanked and echoed through the thick blackness. The lights that had been mounted on Noble Team's helmets came in handy in lighting the way. White lights bounced off of the buildings and glass structures in the city. We had been hiking through the city for the past 2 hours, and traveling in the dark was becoming dangerous, for humans and Spartans alike. With no lights at all, Alexandria had become pitch black…

A loud clanging noise was heard and then followed by Emile's voice, "Ow! Jesus! I swear, if I run into another dead Alien, I will personally fling it over one of these buildings!"

"Oh calm down. Why don't you pay attention to the ground instead of the buildings." Surchme commented.

"Guys, I think we should head in or something for the night… I don't have a good feeling about traveling like this… I'm either going to crushed by Emile when he trips, or Covvies are gunna' get us…" Clumsi mumbled. I sighed.

"Alright. Cat, can you check the map for anything near here that isn't marked-"

"Turn. Off. The. Lights." James whispered, "Something just moved across the top of those buildings…"

"James, I swear if you are pulling our leg…" Cat started. James held up what looked like his hand and Cat shut up. It was so dark, I couldn't see anything…

"We need to keep moving…" Sharra whispered, "If something was up there it knows we are here now."

"Sharra has a point boss, We need to move." Jun pointed out.

"Copy that. I'll radio command, an' tell 'em we have civvies." Carter only spoke briefly to 'command' and nodded to his soldiers, like an all clear signal.

And all of a sudden a shot erupted from the darkness.

I fell to the ground in pain.

Above me, I could make out the blurred shape of Jorge, he was telling me something… I only made out parts of it, while the only other thing I heard was gunshots and shouts from Carter and Emile. Screams and panicked voices rang out, as I heard Clumsi call my name.

"I gotcha…" Jorge scooped me up, and the pain shot through my stomach again. I fell in and out of consciousness, blurred and cleared vision, pain and comfort, "Romona, I need you to stay awake!"

Jorge shook me gently, then I realized I was on the ground. I was in a building. Where was everyone else?

With that, I was out cold.

* * *

I woke to the loud voices of Emile and Jorge above me.

"You need to stay in your place Jorge! You almost got yourself killed, running ahead of us!" Emile shouted angrily at the larger man.

"We had civilians! They come first Emile!" Jorge's voice echoed through the empty room. I looked up, Emile had his chest piece armor off, as well as his helmet arms, exposing a dark and muscular body that was wrapped with bandages.

"Damn it! Jorge!" Emile screamed and threw his canteen onto the ground. It clattered and slid on the gray floor a few feet away from me.

"Emile! Calm down!" Surchme gently tugged on his arm, her hands falling into his, "He saved Romona, and he's alive… That's all that matters…"

Emile's expression fell, and his eyes rested on Surchme's face. Then darted back to Jorge's.

"I'm sorry Jorge, I don't mean to be like that…" Emile let go of Surchme's hand and slung an arm around Jorge's neck, "I gotta be protective of ya' Jorge… if I'm not, who will be?"

Jorge chuckled, "How about Mum? She's supposed to be the one you're taking the role of-"

I hissed in pain as I tired to sit up in my makeshift bed. It was a thin mattress with some white striped curtains thrown on as blankets, blood was stained where I had been laying. The crimson liquid had dried and was now blotted in a stale pool on the white mattress pad.

"Hey…" Jorge said gently, placed a warm and unarmored hand on my back, "Careful, you took quite the hit."

I nodded solemnly and took a deep breath. Bandages underneath my gray tank top restricted me from a full intake of oxygen.

"They're too tight…" My voice was dry, cracked and quiet. Jorge nodded in understanding and called over to Surchme.

"Surchme, her bandages are too tight… can we loosen them a little?" Surchme came over, kneeled next to my bedside and ran a hand through my hair.

"We can loosen the knot, but we can't undo the bandages ok? That would make the wound worse." I nodded remembering that First aid course I took with Fleeting Cross of Reach. '_Never remove prior gauze or bandages, instead add more or loosen the knot if needed._

Jorge gently untied the knot keeping my bandages tight, and they loosened a good amount. I croaked out a thank you and Jorge tied it again, this time loosely.

"Where are the others?" I asked quietly.

"They went to go find a transport and some food. You and Emile got hit pretty bad, so traveling on foot isn't an option at the moment. Plus we are all hungry." Jorge laughed lightly and sat back down, his armored legs crossed.

Across the room, Emile and Surchme were sitting in close quarters, talking in hushed tones and a smile on Emile's face was present. A board grin plastered itself to my pale and tired face and a quiet laugh shook my pained body.

"Those two are sumthin' huh? I thought it was pretty cute… When Emile first got hit by one of the snipers, and came back here, he kept saying he was fine. So Surchme gave him a piece of her mind. He hasn't back sassed at her again yet."

"Speaking of lastnight… Thank you for saving my hide." I whispered thankfully.

Jorge smiled, "No problem."

Just then, Clumsi burst through the front doors of our hideout, carrying at least 5 pounds worth of Candy bars and snack foods.

"Cat! That was awesome! Ro' you missed it! Cat totally went all _Rambo_ on this vending machine we found! It was so totally cool!" She was practically jumping up and down from excitement, candy bars flying to the ground. Sharra was helping pick up all of them bars that fell to the floor.

Cat followed Clumsi through the doors, almost carrying double Clumsi, plus so bottle of water and she shrugged, "It was nothing."

I chuckled as Cat handed me a water bottle and a Godfrey Caff bar. I took it thankfully and drank half of the water within my first sip. I smiled contently.

"Thank you Cat. You are a lifesaver." I laughed. She smiled at me.

"That's my job ma'am."

"So, where are Carter and Jun and James?" Emile asked, "Please don't tell me we have to go find them…"

"Don't worry Em'. They radioed me a few minutes ago. They found a van and it works, they just needed to find some gas for it." Cat explained.

"So we are set to go?" Jorge asked munching on a Godfrey bar also.

"We are set to go."


End file.
